New
European research suggests that mobile telephone operators must be prepared
to provide a broad range of innovative services if they are to persuade
consumers that they should sign up for 3G services when they are launched.
The
research, from mobile infrastructure provider Tahoe Networks, focused
on
people's desire to receive sports content via a 3G device. Despite the
widespread belief that up-to-the-minute sports information and video
clip
highlights could be one of the killer applications that 3G networks
need,
the research showed that only 18% per cent of those surveyed would currently
pay to receive personalised content on their favourite sports. The
findings also showed that only 33% of people wanted to receive sports
updates on their mobile phone or PDA.
"Our
research suggests that service providers and operators cannot rely
solely on traditional sports content to provide 3G revenues. A
non-traditional approach needs to be adopted to deliver the diverse
services
that subscribers are likely to be interested in," says Herve Liboureau,
Tahoe's European VP for sales.
Alan
Cohen, VP of marketing for Tahoe, commented: "Successful operators
are
going to delivering a range of new and innovative services rather than
simply replicating what is already available. In the case of sport,
this
could mean enabling users, via their 3G devices, to purchase tickets
for
major events immediately they become available rather than them having
to
wait in a telephone queuing system or struggling to access a website."
This
view is supported by what happened at the World Cup. The popularity
of
mobile services enabling consumers to purchase tickets and receive results
updates was evident at the games in Korea and Japan.
"To
achieve this, mobile operators need to have in place a flexible business
model and network infrastructure. They've got to be fully aware of what
subscribers want at any given time and then have the capability to deliver
that service instantaneously," said Cohen. "Success in the
3G market will
be as much about having the killer network as it will be having the
killer
app."
